Page 14 of Edmond

“How do you feel about being able to save a life the way that I had. There were shots fired directly at the officer that day, right into his head. Had I not been there to wrap him up in that vine stuff, he would have surely died. The same way with Harlequin, too, I’m guessing.”

She smiled at him when he asked her if she’d killed Gilbert. “Yes. He was holding his daughter hostage when I arrived. The bad guys had already been shot up and left. Gilbert thought that I was the police coming in. He wasn’t going to jail, he told me. To which I thought was a wonderful idea. So he fired right into her head. Once I got her wrapped up and put into the bedroom with her sister who was still alive as well, I took care of him.” Edmond asked her if she thought he should know how she’d done that. “No. Let’s just say what they saw in there is nothing at all as to what the living room looked like when she was finished with him.”

“And the girls?” She told him that Selma had been lying in her doorway with a bullet to her head, and she’d been able to heal her quickly. But it had taken her a bit longer, and that was why Harley had been hurt, too. “Do you think that there will be any kind of payback? For keeping the girls alive? I mean, they, whoever it was that gave us this, they’re not going to make us choose someone else to die because of what we’d done here today?”

“No. I believe, and this is really hard to believe that you and I were chosen to do this deed for the families of those saved. At some point? I don’t know. Maybe we’ll be around long enough to see what purpose they were to serve because we saved them both.

Chapter 7

Edmond was helping the men construct the slaughterhouse for their business when his cell rang. Again. He was, like his brothers, still getting used to having the sucker notify him of getting a message or a phone call. Today, his had been ringing all morning, and when he’d gotten here to the construction site, he turned it off in favor of letting his mind rest for a bit. It was too overwhelming to be constantly bombarded. Now that lunch was over, he’d turned it on and was ready to turn it off again.

“Hello.” He knew that he snapped. And he wasn’t the least bit sorry for it. Caroline, through the station house, had called him several times already, leaving messages about calling back to speak to Caroline, and he was frankly sick to death of her. It was Capshaw that was on the other end, laughing. “Look. I’ve told the office that I have no desire to speak to her. I’m not bailing her out, and I’m not—”

“She passed away in her sleep. I’m sorry, Edmond, you were supposed to be told about it earlier this morning by an officer coming out to your place. I guess he just missed you.” He was going to ask why he thought that was funny, but he didn’t get the chance. “There’s a note here. It’s addressed to ‘The ungrateful granddaughter and her bitch of a daughter.’ I was just handed this when you answered. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to let you think that I thought it was funny. But you couldn’t have asked for a funnier heading for this. Last night at lights out, she was fit to be tied, I tell you. Spitting mad, as my mom used to say.”

“What set her off? Or do I want to know?” He said more than likely not, but he’d tell him anyway. Then he did. “So she was mad because everyone was ignoring her, and she didn’t think that was right? Why the note? Did she know she was going to die or something?”

“I would think so. She kept complaining of chest pains last night. We had old doc Miller come in, and he listened to her complain, her heart, her complaining again, and then took her over to the hospital to run some tests. She didn’t want to go and said she had better things to do other than to have some sexual deviant looking at her breasts while supposedly examining her. But they didn’t find anything. Her heart, he told me was better than his was and that all the EKGs running had given him no such reading that she was going to pass on. She must have just decided that if no one was going to help her, then fuck you all. I don’t know what the note says for your wife and mother-in-law. The heading is written on the envelope. For all I know, she willed herself to die just to be mean.”

“That sounds like something she would do.” Capshaw agreed with him. “Who else knows? And I want to tell you how sorry I am that I snapped when I answered the phone. It’s been a hell of a morning so far.” He told him that it was just fine. “I’ve been rude, and I don’t want you to think that of me. I appreciate you letting me know about that. I’ll be more careful when I answer from now on.”

“It’s all right, Edmond. I hadn’t realized that she was given a cell to call you guys yesterday. I think that just gave her more ammo to be upset about.” He agreed with him. “You’re the only one who knows. I tried to reach out to her daughter, but like you, she more than likely thought it was Caroline calling again. To be honest, I thought for sure you’d not answer. According to the phone, she made over a hundred calls between your phone and the other two, Debra and your wife.”

“I think that Debra changed her phone number sometime yesterday to stop the calls. I’m not sure what Mac had done. But even the house phone we set up for calls from there was ringing nonstop for a few hours. Christ, it was like having a ringing bell next to your ear all the fucking time with her in jail.” Capshaw told him that the officers must have gotten sick of her wanting to call you guys. Since you weren’t answering that they went out and got her a burner phone she could use. She didn’t leave any messages, I bet. That way, she could say that she didn’t connect to any of you to keep calling. That woman sure isn’t like her daughter nor granddaughter.”

“You got that right, for sure.” He thought about something else. “Did anyone tell the grandsons? If you’ve not, I would be happy to do that for you. They’re afraid of me a bit, with good reason, and now that she’s out of their lives perhaps they can figure out a way to straighten out their lives and get right with people. Especially since they’re my family as well.”

“Are you sure you want to do that for me? Because I’d really love it if you were to take that job on. They’ve been, for the most part, good men. We finally put them all in one cell but for Cole. You might not be aware of this, but Cole is going to be tested for his mental capacity in the morning. The doctor has taken him to the hospital so that tests could be run on him beforehand.” He told him the doctor’s name as well as the tests that were being done on him. “His parents know this, of course. We had to get their permission to do anything for him. Even though he’s technically an adult, he needs care by the state so they had to approve it.”

“What do they think they’ll find?” Capshaw told him that he wasn’t sure, but they were happy to have him tested, his parents he told him. “I guess we’ll find out. I’ve never spoken to the man myself. And, of course, Mac barely knows him. I think that had a great deal to do with their grandmother. For whatever reason, she kept them isolated from their family.”

“To do her bidding is what I figured out. Those boys, however, are different. We can’t hear what they’re plotting when they have their heads together. But since they’re not causing anyone any trouble, we just let it go. I haven’t any idea how they’re going to take the death of their grannie, to be honest. She’d not asked to see them, so I’m not at all sure what they might think of her being gone.” He thought perhaps they’d be upset. That she’d been such a big part of their lives, they might not take it so well. “When can I expect you? I don’t want them finding out from someone else that she’s gone. It might not set well with them.”

“I’m leaving now. I wasn’t doing much other than getting in the way, I think. I was also asking too many questions and I think the company hired will be glad for me to be gone.” Capshaw laughed. “Yes, that is funny. But all right. I’m leaving here now.”

He was at the station house in less time than he thought he’d be. Just before he got onto the main street, Capshaw called him again. This time, he wanted him to pick up an order at the deli shop for a few of the prisoners as well as some of his men. The cook was out sick, and he was going to have it picked up some time, but his officers were on calls.

“Yes, I can do that.” Capshaw told him that he’d ordered him one as well. “Thanks. I was just thinking that I was hungry. Now that I have an excuse to do so, I’m going to suggest that I talk to the men while eating. They might be in a better mood to talk to me if I’m sort of feeding them.”

“Good idea. The best way to get to someone is through their stomach. I’ve heard that several times, I think.” He told him the real way the saying went. “Well, don’t be getting them into trouble with that, Edmond. You come on, and we’ll have them set up for things when you arrive. Thanks for doing this, Edmond. You’re a good man.”

He tried, he thought to himself. But as he was pulling out of the deli parking lot, he thought perhaps he could be better. The next thing on his page for stuff to look into was what he’d been thinking about for a long time. Edmond thought that he really did want to see if he could get a garden going in the spring to supply fruits and vegetables to him and the rest of his family. He’s never tried it on a big scale before, but he was looking forward to it the more he thought about it.”

~*~

Alan knew something was up when the cops sat them at a picnic table just outside the station house doors. It was a pretty day in the lower seventies, so he and his brothers were enjoying the sun when the man, what they’d been calling Mac’s husband since they’d met him. Not one of them could remember his name, but Cole and he hadn’t been around for a few days.

He sat them down each a bag that smelled like heaven when he sat across from them. Their ankles were chained, but their hands were free. It didn’t matter to them how they had them locked up. It still grated on their nerves to know that they weren’t free to run around. After getting their sammiches set up the way they wanted, David having put his chips right on the thing, they started eating. Then Edmond, he told them his name then was eating. They were about finished off with their pops when they were given another one. This was just the way he liked to eat a sammich. Lots of pop and crispy chips. Edmond finished his off before they did, so when he sat back to enjoy the sun on his face like he did, he thought that he could kinda like the other man.

“There are some things that you need to be made aware of. I can tell you while you eat or later. It’s entirely up to you.” It was Alan who usually did most of the talking, so when Peter spoke up, it startled him a bit. He wasn’t mad, just startled that’s all. “Yes, it’s about your brother and your grandmother. She was upset a few days ago. Were you aware of that?”

“She wanted to be bailed out, and no one was doing what she wanted.” Edmond told him that was right. “She’s not a nice person in the event you didn’t get that.” Alan agreed with Peter when he said that. Then Edmond looked at him. “Well, she wasn’t. Always making us be around her. I missed Momma and Daddy. But she told us that they were evil. I don’t know how that was to come about. They were always nice to me when we was around them. And they took good care of Cole when he was having a time of it.”

“She’s gone now.” David asked where she’d gone, hopefully it was far away. “She’s gone to be with her maker, whoever that is.” The three of them put their heads together to talk. Alan couldn’t remember a time when they started doing this thing, but they could talk amongst themselves and better figure out what was going on than they could do on their own. They converted, he called it to see if they could trip Edmond up on telling them a falsehood. “She was powerfully pissed off and left a letter for your mom and sister. I’m going to take it to them when I leave here.”

“You told us first, then.” It weren’t no question, but Peter didn’t seem to care. They were converting again when he decided that they didn’t need to trip him up. Why would he have to lie to them about her being dead? Then he spoke up.

“She isn’t just a bad person, but she don’t care much for people either. Why, just a few weeks ago, we heard her telling the Madison boy that he was going to give her the newspapers for free on account of her going to kill him if he didn’t. The boy didn’t leave her no papers anymore, then he turned up missing. By us.” Edmond asked him if he’d killed the boy. “No, we just relocated him and his momma so that he’d have a better home and will be able to live a bit longer. We did that all the time. She ain’t never catched us before.”

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